Justice News

Chelmsford Man Charged in Plot to Murder State Trooper

BOSTON – A Chelmsford man was charged yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston for initiating a murder-for-hire plot.

Andrew S. Gordon, 52, was charged in a criminal complaint with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. He is scheduled to have an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein on Friday, April 17, 2015.

According to the complaint, in October 2014, Gordon was charged by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office with plotting to have his estranged wife murdered. In that case, Gordon attempted to hire a “hit man” to kill his wife; however, the “hit man” was actually an undercover Massachusetts State Trooper. Since his arrest, Gordon has been held on state charges at the Middlesex House of Correction and Jail.

According to the federal complaint, while Gordon was incarcerated on the state charge, he attempted to hire a gang member living in New Hampshire to kill a Massachusetts State Trooper and another individual who were both witnesses against him in the pending case. For the commission of the murders, Gordon offered $15,000 and instructed that the murders were to appear accidental. Gordon, who believed that murdering the witnesses would effectively end the state’s ability to prosecute him, was actually communicating with an undercover officer.

The federal statute provides for a sentence of no greater than ten years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Gordon will be prosecuted and sentenced separately by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the crimes charged by the state.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan; Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian; Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Tobin of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.